Synergy (See #3)(28)
“Did you just see your way here?” I asked breathlessly.
Her silence told me she did.
“You know, Mom, I still don’t get why you didn’t teach me what you know. Why you waited for me to stumble on it.”
“Charlie,” she said calmly, “we don’t have time to go over what I should or should not have done as I raised you.”
I looked down nervously. “I know. Are you upset?” I asked, looking up at her, noticing that she seemed more tense than usual.
“No,” she said as she tried to smile.
“Listen, if you come home this weekend, you may find some broken things in the house. I’m sorry about that. I’ll find a way to replace that stuff when I can.”
“Charlie, you fought a demon and survived, and you’re apologizing for a few broken material things?”
“You know about that?” I asked, sure that she did.
“I felt it,” she answered, looking over me.
“Dad was there,” I said, looking around for any sign of him. I couldn't even hear his guitar anymore.
She nodded once. “I want you to pack, take what you think you need, and I don’t want you to come back to this house until I tell you that it’s safe.”
“What do you mean?” I asked nervously. “Can that demon come back?”
“If he does, you won’t be here.”
“What about Kara? She’ll be back on Monday.”
My mom moved her head slowly from side to side.
“What are you not saying?” I asked as every part of me tensed.
“Kara isn’t meeting an old friend in the city; she’s meeting Robert. By midnight, she’ll be on a flight to Paris.”
“What? Why didn’t she tell me?”
“She doesn’t know. I called Robert; we planned this.”
Robert was Kara’s husband. He was a journalist that worked overseas more than he worked here. Kara kept no secrets from him. He knew about me, about all of us. None of it bothered him; in fact, he found us fascinating.
“Why?”
“Because for her, it will be easier to say goodbye if she’s the one leaving.”
“Did you know I was leaving today? Tomorrow? What else do you know? What has Dad told you? Mom, don’t hide anything from me ... people could get hurt.”
“Charlie, I’ve felt this coming for a while, longer than I could explain to you right now. We just don’t have the time. You’re leaving here within hours; you’ll face your fate and see why the devil doesn’t want you to win.”
“I’m supposed to help those people, aren’t I?”
“And so many more.”
“That doesn’t make sense to me. How am I supposed to help the people that I’ve been waiting on to help me? It sounds more like the blind leading the blind.”
“Charlie, you have something they don’t.”
“What’s that?”
“Your memory.”
I let out a desperate gasp. “My memory? I barely remember all of this life, and what I remember of my past life is vague.”
“You will soon. All you have to do is ask the right questions. I know what you went through when you lost your memory was painful, confusing, but you have to understand that when darkness harms, karma comes into play. You survived that, and because you did, you taught yourself a valuable lesson.”
“What?” I asked breathlessly, knowing I knew nothing more than I did before.
“You can now open your mind. Explore lost moments and find the answers you need. Those who you are going to help can’t do that. You have the power to remember what they said to you, and once you master this, you’ll be able to go into past lives of others; you’ll be the one that helps everyone understand why they’re connected at this pivotal point in history.”
My heart began to hammer in my chest. What was she saying? I knew them before? Was Draven right about knowing that Prince?
“Maybe you’re not clear on how I remember, Mom. I have to have someone to spark the memory, the way Draven does with music.”
She look down and let out a gentle breath. “Who in your life right now can remember everything you did in your past lives? Who can spark that memory?”
Oh please Mom don’t push me in that direction. “Silas.”
She nodded.
“Mom, I don’t like being in the middle of him and Draven.”
She looked up at me. “You’re going to have find a comfortable place there for now, Charlie.”
“What do you know? Just tell me. I don’t care if you think it’s better for me to learn on my own or not. Please don’t make this hard on me.”
She reached her arm around me. “I would never do anything to hurt you. Me and your father have done everything we possibly could to prepare you for this day.” She sighed. “I need you to promise me something.”
“Anything,” I said, trying to hold back tears.
“No matter what you learn, what you see, what you hear, never forget that your father and I have no regrets, that we love you and that we’re proud of you.”
I felt my stomach drop.
“Mom, how come I feel like you’re telling me goodbye for good? I thought you said I could see you anytime -- did you just say that so I would go?”